25 Facts About Joe Adonis

Joe Adonis had three brothers, Antonio, Ettore and Genesio Doto.

Joe Adonis developed a loyalty to Luciano that lasted for decades.

One story states that Joe Adonis received this nickname from a Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl who was dating him.

Extremely vain, Joe Adonis spent a great deal of time in personal grooming.

Joe Adonis was a cousin of Luciano crime family capo Alan Bono, who supervised Joe Adonis's operations in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.

Joe Adonis married Jean Montemorano, and he had four children; Joseph Michael Doto, Jr.

When Masseria heard about Luciano's betrayal, he approached Joe Adonis about killing Luciano.

Joe Adonis soon moved into cigarette distribution, buying up vending machines by the hundreds and stocking them with stolen cigarettes.

In 1932, Joe Adonis allegedly participated in the kidnapping and brutal beating in Brooklyn of Isidore Juffe and Issac Wapinsky.

In 1931, Joe Adonis had lent the two men money for investment and kidnapped them in 1932 after deciding that he should be receiving a higher profit.

Two days after the kidnappings, Joe Adonis released Juffe and Wapinsky after receiving a $5,000 ransom payment.

Joe Adonis placed many politicians and high-ranking police officers on his payroll.

Joe Adonis used his political influence to assist members of the Luciano crime family, such as Luciano and Genovese, and mob associates such as Meyer Lansky and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc.

Joe Adonis moved his family to a luxurious house in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Joe Adonis set up a casino in Lodi, New Jersey, and provided limousine service there from New York City.

On December 12,1950, Joe Adonis was summoned before the US Senate Kefauver Commission on organized crime.

Joe Adonis repeatedly refused to testify, citing his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On May 28,1951, Joe Adonis was sentenced in Hackensack, New Jersey, to two to three years in state prison.

Joe Adonis fought deportation, claiming that he was a native-born American citizen.

On January 3,1956, Joe Adonis voluntarily left New York City on an ocean liner for Naples, Italy.

Once in Italy, Joe Adonis moved into a luxurious apartment in the center of Milan.

Joe Adonis attended the funeral service in Naples, bringing a huge floral wreath with the words, "So Long, Pal".

In June 1971, the Italian government forced Joe Adonis to leave his Milan residence and move to Serra de' Conti, a small town near the Adriatic Sea.

Joe Adonis was taken to a regional hospital in Ancona, where he died several days later on November 26,1971.

Joe Adonis is buried in Madonna Cemetery in Fort Lee, New Jersey under his family name of Joseph Antonio Doto.